The Whirring of a Fan
by Chitinase
Summary: She lied, he remembers. Drabble, fluffy!Shell, kind of.


A/N: Written, edited and posted from my phone within an hour. On the other hand, I'm really sleepy it doesn't even make sense to me when I read it. Forgive me. As a disclaimer, I do not own. Also, I don't even like Glee, just wrote this for Idina/Matthew.

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><p>The standing fan on the side table whirred softly, and Will stroked Shelby's hair gently as she laid at his side.<p>

_"I lied, you know?"_

_"About what?" he'd questioned, humouring her._

_There was an awkward silence between them for a moment before she whispered a reply. "Everything."_

They remained there in an oddly comfortable position, she snuggling into his side and he with an arm over her shoulders, both sinking into the old, worn couch.

Then a memory from more than fifteen years back, from who-knows-where, slipped swiftly, silently into his mind, and all of a sudden he is back in the hallways of McKinley.

There is a girl who has her locker between his and Terri's - and Terri always attempts to get their lockers swapped, because having lockers side by side seemed like a "couply" thing to do, or so she said - and he remembers her in most of his classes. This, in retrospect, was pretty impressive, considering that he took almost all of the advanced classes. He remembers long black hair almost always dripping with coloured corn syrup, and files covered with permanent marker ink that tended to rude words and were desperately covered up.

Most of all, he remembers two extra outfits in the locker, left open when someone picked the lock one day, and Terri slashing them with a penknife and a manic glint in her eyes.

"Shelby," he began, "Shelby, I think I remember now." He said in a quiet voice, almost hoping she was already asleep.

"I never knew I was that forgettable," she mumbled. It appeared that luck was not on his side today.

"Why did you use to bring two extra outfits to school every day?" A sleepy chuckle, as she explained to him that she never changed between lessons because she'd just get slushied again, instead, she would change after school ended. "What about the other set?"

She bit her lip and never answered until he pressed further. "I realized," she started, "that if you change in the toilet, there'll be people waiting outside for you."

Will's heart broke a little when he heard that.

Attempting to laugh it off, she added, "It is kind of gross to walk home with corn syrup all over you." Another awkward pause, there seemed to be no end of those between them recently.

"Oh my god, Shelby, you really weren't planning on telling any of us that you were from McKinley too?"

She shrugged. "I figured that since not even a single person remembered me from my high school days, why bring up the memories?"

_Damn it Shelby, as stubborn as always._

It was right at that moment that Will realized he could never completely forget her. "You know, I don't think I ever really forgot you. Or, for that matter, knew you at all. Let's start from the top."

He separated himself from her, although a part of him screamed at himself for being an idiot and losing contact with her. Sticking out his hand for her to shake, he took a deep breath and put a brilliant smile on his face, just like he would if he was meeting someone for the first time.

"William Shuester - call me Will -, alumnus of McKinley, Lima, Ohio, was from glee club, and current Spanish teacher. Also the glee club director. Although," he added, albeit thoughtfully, "that was probably too much information."

Shelby smiled a little at that. "Shelby Corcoran, same alma mater. Director of rival glee club from Carmel, mother of a sixteen year old. I could hazard a guess and say we graduated in the same year, which almost the same results. Yes, I lied, I did know who you were."

"All is forgiven." Will intoned in a deadpan.

Both collapsed in a heap on silent sniggers. Will grinned mischievously first and proceeded to tickle Shelby's sides, leading to her change from sniggers to minute shrieks.

Above that all, the monotonous whirring of a fan could be heard.


End file.
